Emotions run high 25 years after Hayes shootings

Linda Cantrell admits she can't help but think what would have been, concerning her 16-year-old daughter whose life was taken way too early in 1988.

BY DARRICK IGNASIAKThe Dispatch

ARCADIA | Linda Cantrell admits she can't help but think what would have been, concerning her 16-year-old daughter whose life was taken way too early in 1988.Twenty-five years later the mother concedes dealing with her daughter's loss will always be tough."You wonder if she would have had any children," an emotional Cantrell said. "I know she wanted to go to college to do interior decorating."Cantrell and her husband, Joel, now call Arcadia home. They've since moved away from their old residence on Judy Lane, about a mile from where four lives, including their daughter's, were taken by then 24-year-old Michael Hayes.Crystal Cantrell, 21-year-old Melinda Hayes (not related to the shooter) of Mount Olivet Road in Arcadia, 24-year-old Thomas Walter Nicholson of Brenda Drive in Winston-Salem and 32-year-old Ronald Hull of Brencomb Drive in Winston-Salem were killed in July 1988 on Old Salisbury Road, just over the Forsyth County line near Davidson County. Five other people were found wounded after Forsyth County deputies arrived shortly after 11:30 that night. Hayes was shot by deputies.Wednesday will mark 25 years since the shooting.July 17, 1988, was the day when Hayes opened fire at cars passing a moped shop at an intersection just a few hundred feet north of the Davidson County line. The Dispatch reported in 2004 Hayes had been living in a mobile home off Hickory Tree Road in Davidson County until about a week before the shooting, when he began staying at the moped shop where he worked. The moped shop is now gone, and the area is more commercialized and has subdivisions.Hayes was found not guilty of the murders by reason of insanity and was under supervision at Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh until 2012, when he was fully released with no conditions. Hayes suffered delusions of grandeur prior to and during the shooting, R.B. Nicholson, the father of Thomas Nicholson, previously told The Dispatch. Nicholson and the Cantrells believe Hayes should have been found guilty.Bitter feelings toward law enforcementThe time was about 11:30 p.m. that Sunday when the North Davidson branch of the Davidson County Sheriff's Office in Midway received a call concerning someone discharging a firearm at a vehicle, according to a taped conversation obtained by The Dispatch between the telecommunicator and Davidson County sheriff's deputy Fred Godfrey. The newspaper reported July 28, 1988, that Godfrey was dispatched to meet with Gene Petty, the man whose vehicle was shot, at the Hickory Tree Texaco station at the intersection of N.C. Highway 150 and Hickory Tree Road, the recording stated.Godfrey was informed the incident occurred at the moped shop on Old Salisbury Road, at which time the telecommunicator asked if a Forsyth County deputy should be notified to meet with Godfrey."If he was shot at in Forsyth County, there's nothing I can do for him," Godfrey said in the recording while also indicating his willingness to meet with the deputy at the county line. Then Davidson County Sheriff Paul "Jaybird" McCrary said Godfrey called Forsyth and told them about the shooting incident with Petty, and they advised they had a car en route to the scene. While Godfrey was in the parking lot of the Texaco, Clemmons resident James Boyd pulled into the convenience store and told Godfrey he had been shot while driving down Old Salisbury Road, at which time Godfrey immediately called an ambulance.Godfrey then heard two shots that sounded like a small caliber weapon and two blasts. The deputy at that time formed a roadblock at the intersection of N.C. 150 leading to Old Salisbury Road. McCrary said his deputy acted appropriately and was sure if an officer would have observed someone shooting at innocent people, he would have intervened at the appropriate time."I never had a real good opinion about them beforehand," Nicholson said, referring to the Forsyth and Davidson County sheriff's offices. "They are not professional."Nicholson claims Forsyth County deputies were alerted to Hayes acting erratically prior to the shooting. Friends and family of Hayes told The Dispatch shortly after the shooting that he started showing signs of extreme paranoia, threatening his family and friends, calling people demons and claiming he was a millionaire. Those who knew Hayes claimed he had been experiencing financial and personal troubles, and he and his wife, who was about nine months pregnant at the time, had recently separated, and he was living in the moped store during the past week prior to the shootings.The Associated Press reported three of the four victims killed in the shooting spree in southern Forsyth County were gunned down at point-blank range while deputies crouched behind their cruisers some 40 yards away. Deputies shot Hayes several times with 12-gauge shotguns, striking him in the groin, leg and back. "Discharging a firearm wouldn't give us jurisdiction in Forsyth County," McCrary recalled in a recent interview. "Back then our procedure if we got a request from Forsyth we would go over and assist them … Fred followed procedure. … I sympathize with the families. They lost loved ones and then this guy was tried in Forsyth and convicted of mental illness. He was sentenced to serve, and he did serve at Dorothea Dix. The courts handled it and Forsyth handled it."Garris Edwards, Hayes' stepfather, previously told a reporter that family members tried to have Hayes committed to an institution July 16, 1988, when he broke one of his hands hitting a wall. When recently reached by phone, Edwards said he used to be married to Hayes' mother and declined an interview with a reporter.'Lucky' to be aliveJeff Parks, now 52 years old and a Midway resident, acknowledges he's lucky to be alive. He was one of the five people who were wounded and survived the shootings.The events of that tragic night remain vivid in Parks' mind. Still today, Parks says he can't stop replaying them in his head and can still remember how Hayes looked. Parks, while driving his 1970 Ford Torino, saw a car parked with its headlights shining at the moped shop. Parks, a mechanic, slowed his car to see if the man needed help. He turned down the radio to hear Hayes talk through the open window and say, "Do you want some of this?" before firing at Parks."I didn't understand the question at the time, but it didn't take long to figure it out," Parks said days after the shooting. A bullet would enter Parks' left upper lip and come out behind his right ear. Once he was shot, Parks stepped on the gas pedal as hard as he could. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw Hayes shoot at another car. Parks drove to the Griffith Volunteer Fire Department on N.C. 150 just down the road from the scene."I've never got myself back physically from where I was," Parks said during an interview at his house. "I never will gain myself back physically from where I was, in what he has done to me. I've got false teeth in my head right now from what he did to me. But I guess I am still lucky to be alive. It's affected me greatly. I don't trust any people. Because of this, before this happened, I would help anybody out for any reason. But now not a chance (if he) sees somebody out in the road or stranded in the road, I'll run over them before I stop."Parks characterized Hayes as a "spoiled kid" at the time of the shooting. He says Hayes' stepfather "took away the keys to the cash register (so) he couldn't get his drugs.""He was pitching a fit and four people died," Parks said. "He is now walking the damn streets alive and walking the streets safely."Parks says he feels the same way as he did during Hayes' trial."If I see him out here walking on the street, I am going to kill him because I've got to assume he's got a weapon, and he's going to try to kill me. The first time I ever met him, without doing anything to him, without any kind of provocation or anything, he put a rifle to my head and tried to kill me. I can't take the chance. If I see him again out there on the streets or anywhere, I will have to kill him. That's just to protect myself."Hayes says he's remorsefulKarl Knudsen, a Raleigh attorney, recalls first meeting Hayes in either late 1989 or 1990 when he was appointed to represent him. "I have noticed a lot of changes in Michael, some more subtle than others," over the years, the attorney said. "Michael is much more mature. It's really a much nicer person than he was at the time (of the shooting)."Reflecting on his initial encounters with Hayes, Knudsen remembers him no longer being on medications. He says his client noticed over a number of years substance abuse played a major part in him "becoming detached from reality, and he needed to make a lifetime commitment to sobriety." Knudsen said Hayes was "clearly mentally ill" at the time the shootings occurred. The attorney claims Hayes was suffering from Schizophreniform disorder, a short-term version of schizophrenia that distorts the way a person perceives reality and typically persists no longer than six months. Knudsen said the only thing that doctors could agree on was that Hayes had a personality disorder. He said because of dedication on Hayes' part and through therapy no one could say he had a personality disorder except a state psychiatrist."Mike is very active in Alcoholic Anonymous and is truly committed to the organization and the life past that it represents," Hayes' attorney said. "Mike has just become a lot more tolerant, dedicated. He is a hard worker. He has just obtained a lot of wisdom and maturity over the years that he lacked as a young man."Knudsen said Hayes serves as an assistant manager at a convenience store in Raleigh. He had previously been working at another convenience store in Cary until his employer decided they didn't want to have any negative publicity.A reporter reached Hayes at his current place of employment."I'm extremely sorry that it all happened," he said. "Other than that I have nothing more (to say)."Knudsen says Hayes' remorse is "very deep, very real and very sincere.""Mike has talked about this for years," the attorney said. "Believe me, if Mike could turn back the hands of time and undo this thing, he would. He has apologized in public and directly to family members. We also understand the magnitude of the harm and the pain. He understands that it is unrealistic to expect in any way that he will be forgiven for what happened. The only thing he can do is try to live a good life and make sure anything like this will never happen again."Hayes, Knudsen said, is free without any conditions. Therefore, he could move anywhere he'd like to in the state. Knudsen, however, says Hayes has no desire to move back to Forsyth or Davidson counties because of respect for the victims' families and his concern for his welfare.Mother continues to grieveLinda Cantrell says the hurt of losing her daughter is always there."Every year, it's just hard because (it's) July 17," she said. "That's just what you wake up thinking about."Crystal was a rising senior at Parkland High School, had a job at Hanes Mall at a cinnamon bun shop and was planning on using a scholarship to play softball in college. "Whenever you saw her, what you saw first is teeth because she always had a smile on her face," the mother recalled. Linda Cantrell remembers the events leading up her daughter's death July 17, 1988. After church was over, the mother allowed Crystal to go to her boyfriend's house. Her time to come home was 11 p.m., and Cantrell regretfully recalls allowing her to stay out 30 minutes later than normal. Crystal didn't return home at 11:30 p.m., so the mother called her daughter's boyfriend's house to find out she had left."He went to go look for her," she said. "He got down to Old Salisbury Road and they turned him around. We got in the car and we went up there. I knew something had happened up there. … I was like 'let me just see if I can see her car.' They wouldn't let me."Authorities told the mother to go home and wait an hour for a call from deputies. A woman from the sheriff's department later came by and told the Cantrells about their daughter. Cantrell said testimony in court indicated Hayes told someone he was using her daughter as a "range marker.""We went to the trial every day it lasted," Linda Cantrell said. "It was like a three-ring circus. He lied and when things were told right, it looked like jurors didn't pay attention."Linda Cantrell says she doesn't want an apology from Hayes."The reason I say that is because he knew what he was doing that night," she said. "I know those psychiatrists and everybody says he didn't, but he did. He knew what he was doing."Lynn Griggs of Midway is a family friend of the Cantrells."The thing is that Joel and Linda Cantrell will never have peace on this Earth until they are joined with Crystal," he said. "Michael Hayes is alive and well and a free man. He (killed) a beautiful girl and some other people."Darrick Ignasiak can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 217, or at darrick.ignasiak@the-dispatch.com.

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